Letter drop for mail chutes



Oct. 9,1934; s. v. VAN RIPER v 1,976,251

LETTER DROP FOR MAIL CHUTES Filed Feb. 27, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet 1;

%z7s' ATTORNEY Oct. 9, 1934. s. v. VAN RIPER LETTER DROP FOR MAIL CHUTES4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 27 1935 1934. s. v. VAN RIPER 1,976,251

LETTER DROP FOR MAIL CHUTES Filed Feb. 27, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 %z'sATTORNEY Patented Oct. 9, 1934 LETTER DROP FOR MAIL CHUTES Stanley V.Van Riper, New Rochelle, N. Y., as-

signor to Cutler Mail Chute 00., Rochester, N. Y., a corporation of NewYork Application February 27, 1933, Serial No. 858,710

2 Claims.

My present invention relates to mail chutes and mail boxes and moreparticularly to letter drops therefor, and it has for its general objectto provide a simple, practical and emcient mailing aperture constructionthat will be effective to prevent postal packages and other objects of alarger size than the chute is intended to handle from being crowded intothe mailing aperture and causing stoppages that clog the chute againstfurther 0 immediate use from the floor or level at which theobjectionable article is inserted and from the floors above. Theimprovements are directed in part toward providing means forintercepting at the mailing aperture expansible articles, such as largefolded envelopes or folded newspapers which otherwise might be crowdedin only to later spring open and toward the provision of further means,making it convenient for persons having even limited authority toquickly remove the inter- 2D cepted package and restore service. Afurther object of the invention is to advantageously combine theforegoing functions with a trash ejector,

such as that disclosed in my prior Patent No.

1,907,906, dated May 9, 1933, the application for which was copendingwith this application. To

these and other ends, the invention resides-in certain improvements andcombinations of parts, all

as will be hereinafter more fully described, the

novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end of thisspecification.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a front elevation of a section of a mail chute provided with aletter drop constructed in accordance with and illustrating oneembodimen of my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlargement of a fragment of the chute, as shown in Fig. 1,together with the letter drop construction thereof;

Fig. 3 is a View corresponding to Fig. 2 but with the door or front ofthe letter drop casing shown fully opened;

Fig. 4 is a substantially central vertical section taken on Fig. 2 withthe parts in normal position;

Fig. 5 is a duplication of the showing of Fig. 3, except that the frontwall plate of the mailing throat has been removed;

Fig. 6 is a duplication of the showing of Fig. 4, except that anobjectionable piece of mail matter is shown caught in the arrestingdevice;

Fig. '7 is a further enlarged horizontal section taken substantially onthe line '7--7 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 8 is a horizontal section on the same scale taken substantially onthe line 8-8 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary detail section through the trash dischargeopening taken substantially on the line 9-9 of Fig. i, and v Fig 10 is aduplication of a fragment of the showing of Fig. 7, showing the lock ina different position.

Similar reference numerals throughout the several views indicate thesame parts.

The general nature and functions of a mail chute are too well known torequire extended explanation here. In Fig. 1 is shown one section 5 orunit as installed on a single fioor of an ofiice building or the likeforming part of a continuous chute extending vertically through thebuilding and terminating in a collection box on the ground floor. Thesection comprises ceiling and floor connections 1 and 2, a backing 3, towhich the chute channel proper i (Fig. 7) is suitably secured, and glassfront panels 5 held in moldings 6 that fit the channel. These panels areusually made removable and are locked in place by a suitable keycontrolled locking bar 7 which may be manipulated only by authorizedpersons representing the Postofiice Department. It is through thesepanels that the stoppages are reached and cleared.

The lower panel of each section is fitted with a letter drop and, in thepractice of my invention, as shown in the present embodiment thereof,such fixture embodies a casing having a back plate 8 and side walls 9.Lateral appropriately shaped lugs 10 on the back plate are confinedwithin the panel beads or moldings 6 to support the casing in fixedposition. The front thereof is displaceable and, in the presentinstance, is in the form of a door 11 hinged to the backing 9'3 8 at thebottom, as indicated at 12, so that it can be swung from the normalposition of the other figures to that of Fig. 5. The door or front haslateral flanges 13 that normally overlap the side walls 9 and a topflange 14 that abuts the backing. The exteriorly accessible mailingopening 15 is formed in this flange. A suitable lock 16, key controlled,(Figs. 7 and 10) is mounted in one of the side flanges 13. It is shown,in the present instance, as a rotary lock, the barrel 1? of which isalso longitudinally movable in the manner of the familiar ignition lockfor automobiles and terminates in a bolt 18 taking into a keeper opening19 in a side wall 9 of the casing. As will further appear, the openingof the door or front 11 affords but limited access to the interior ofthe chute so that custody of the key to lock 16 can well be entrusted toa semi-authorized person, such as the superintendent of the building inwhich the chute is installed.

Leading downwardly at an inclination from the mailing or drop opening 15is a throat 20 through which envelopes and other intended mailablematter slide to the main channel 4. This channel lies between a frontplate 21 fastened to the sides 9 of the casing at 22 and a back plate 23abutting the back plate 8 of the casing and having forwardly extendingflanges 24 at its sides, by means of which it is also fastened at 25 tothe side walls. Both ends of this back plate, as well as the lower edgeof the front plate 21 are so disposed as to constitute letter sheds formail matter descending from a higher level.

The front wall 21 of the throat is relatively short, is spaced from thedoor by a lug 26 and thereby provides an opening or passage 2'? leadingfrom the throat 20 to the forward interior space 28 of the letter dropcasing, at the bottom of which space or chamber is a discharge opening29 leading back to the exterior of the chute. This is for the purposesfully explained and claimed in my copending application, aforesaid,namely, cigarette ends and other small trash dropped into the mailingopening 15 strike a swinging deflector 30 pivoted at 31 at the rear ofthe throat and normally lying across the latter, as shown in Fig. 4, bywhich deflector they are thrown forwardly through the opening 27 andinto the space 28 which is sealed from the chute and from which theydischarge through opening 29. The deflector 30 is readily displaced,however, as shown in Fig. 6, upon receiving the thrust of letters orother longer mail matter. The throat 20 is also partially defined byspaced letter guiding ribs 32 on the inner side of the door 11 thatcontinue in the plane of the front plate 21 in the region of trashpassage 27.

The lower edge of the back plate 23 is serrated and bent upwardly andforwardly in a plurality of prongs or fingers 33 that stand outtherefrom but are spaced from the front plate 21 suificiently topreserve the continuity of throat 20 while limiting its capacity toaccommodate mail matter of proper size and intended thinness. Pivoted bymeans of forwardly projecting ears 34 thereon to the side walls 9 at 35is a swinging yielding guard plate 36 much like the deflector 30 aboveit. This guard plate 36 normally hangs in the position shown in Fig. 4,acting as a shield for the fingers 33 to shed proper light mail matteraway from them as such matter passes down the throat 20. When, however,a heavy package of too great thickness to safely traverse the chute isjammed down the throat, the guard yields and the fingers arrest suchpackage, as shown in Fig. 6, before it can get into the chute at all.Such figure shows at E a large envelope that has been folded forinsertion in the mailing opening 15, but which, reacting against theplate 21, has expanded displacing the guard plate 36 and has becomeentangled with the detector finger 33. In such a case, that particulardrop is temporarily out of service, which fact, aside from the inabilityto deposit other pieces, is discernible through openings or windows 38in the displaceable front 11. In such a situation, the superintendentsimply unlocks the front 11, swings it down, as in Fig. 5, extracts theobjectionable piece and returns it to the depositor or redeposits it ina more suitable mail collecting receptacle. It is apparent from thedrawings in general that such an operation does not give access to thechute in such a way or to sufiicient extent that the mail can betampered with and hence, as before suggested, full postal authority canwell be dispensed with.

As appears in Fig. 6, the trash deflector 30, because of its curvatureand its abutment against the back plate 23, acts, in conjunction with aninclined transverse rib 39 to shed the mail matter past the upper edgeof the shield 36 with which it might otherwise engage.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a letter drop for mail chutes, the combination with a casinghaving a mail receiving opening at the top and a trash chamber at thebottom, and provided with a throat embodying a front wall having anopening therein leading to the trash chamber, of a yielding trashdiverting element normally blocking the throat to defleet light trash tothe trash chamber but displaceable by the contact of mail matter, apackage arresting device in the throat below said element, and a guardnormally shielding said device from engagement with envelopes and otherrelatively thin mailable matter, the front of the casing beingdisplaceable to permit access to the throat when clogged and to thetrash chamber.

2. In a letter drop for mail chutes, the combination with a casinghaving a mail receiving opening at the top and a trash chamber at thebottom, and provided with a throat embodying a front wall having anopening therein leading to the trash chamber, of a yielding trashdiverting element normally blocking the throat to defiect light trash tothe trash chamber but displaceable by the contact of mail matter to lieagainst one side of the throat, a package arresting device in the throatbelow said element, and a pivoted guard plate also below said element onthe same side of the throat normally shielding said device fromengagement with envelopes and other relatively thin mailable matter, thetrash diverting element being adapted when displaced to act as a shedfor the upper edge of the guard plate.

STANLEY V. VAN RIPER.

